Paradox Interactive announced yesterday (January 2) a new expansion, Conquest of Paradise, for its grand-strategy game Europa Universalis IV.

For those who don’t know, the Europa Universalis grand-strategy series is most notably known for allowing players to retell history as accurately or as inaccurately as possible. Players are given control of the course of historical events to either exaggerate their outcomes, barely achieve them, or potentially prevnt them from happening at all. Europa Universalis IV is no different. EU IV allows you to determine the intercontinental and transcontinental events as you see fit, beit forging a nation of power and wealth, struggling to defend against an invasion from overseas, or uniting the world in a grand empire.

Conquest of Paradise allows you to explore the uncharted West in a search for a New World, a continent that’s geographically in the same place as America, but is utterly geologically randomised--you might find that the America you discover may look nothing like the America we know today. The expansion also allows you to play as a native American nation, master federation mechanics and national ideas, and build new buildings and engage in new events. You can also take control of a Colonial Nation, or declare colonial war, or even push to become a completely independant nation. Paradox Interactive released a small developer video diary explaining the new Colonial States mechanic, which can be viewed below.

Conquest of Paradise will be released digitally to PC / Mac / Linux in a couple of weeks on January 14 on leading digital distribution services, like Steam. The expansion is now currently available for pre-order at a 10% discount on Steam for £8.99 (or your regional equivalent).